After The Fallout
by Saiph Nebula
Summary: Jericho/Nova post Fallout3. The two share a few thoughts a year after the Lone Wanderer restarts Project Purity. Soon the pair begin to share a bond that goes beyond the exchange of caps the two are familiar with... - soon to be updated.


After The Fallout.

"_It's been a year. A **long** damn year at that. But there's been a shit-load of change in the twelve months that followed the escape of our saviour, the Lone Wanderer, from Vault 101. Where shall I begin boys and girls? The fact that, thanks to James and his son's sacrifices, water is now a plentiful bounty across our brown and dusty wasteland? How about this... you wanna know a secret? **Sure** you do! Before all that craziness went down between the Brotherhood and the Enclave, our saviour did one other thing to ensure that we, the people of this once great land, would see better days. He made a little trip up north to a settlement called... Oasis. Now I've heard some real messed up stuff, and I tend to believe it. But, long story short, we got water and greenery beginning to spread for our pleasure... and survival. Just once piece of advice folks... don't fuck this up."_

The radio buzzed loudly for a second, static filling the room before the sound of yet another age-old song began playing for the room to enjoy. They paid no attention to it, having heard the same old diddles time and time again over the years. Three Dog might run the best radio station (and now the only station) in the wastes, but he really needed some new material. As was the topic of conversation for most of the drinkers at Moriarty's Saloon. A few of the town's settlers, however, had other things on their mind.

Gob stared unseeingly at the empty glass in his hand, picking up an old cloth out of habit and scrubbing at the chipped glass just so he'd look busy should Moriarty stick his head from his private room. Watching from her usual spot beneath the stairs, Nova took a long drag from her cigarette, never taking her tawny eyes from the barman. Finally she couldn't stand to look at his gloomy face any longer and stubbed the cigarette out on the wall, knowing it'd piss of Moriarty, and wandered over to the bar. She helped herself to a bottle of something stiff and dropped a few caps she'd earned the night before onto the counter.

"Still missing the kid, huh Gob."

A throaty grumble was her her reply.

"Yeah, me too. Me too."

And she meant it. Nova had taken a liking to the kid as soon as he'd wandered through the door looking beaten, exhausted and in need of a good, hard-

"Don't spend too long sitting there," Gob mumbled, "Moriarty's getting pissed that business is dwindling lately."

"Hey, not my fault if everybody's too busy skipping about in the sunshine and radiation too make time for a good tumble."

Nova tried not to smile at the way Gob flinched at her words. He knew full well what she got up too upstairs. She also knew he'd jump at the chance to be one of the punters she led up her personal stairway to heaven. But she had to admit, Gob still had a certain... innocence about him. No, not innocence. No one was innocent out here in the wastes.

Gentleness. That was it. It wasn't like she hadn't noticed the way he'd watch her disappear for a good hour or so. When he first started working for Moriarty he used to sneak upstairs and check up on her when things sounded like they were getting too rough. Of course, it was usually the _good_ kind of rough. But Gob had turned out to be her unexpected night in shining armour on at least one occasion. The memory made Nova smile as Gob placed the now spotless glass on the counter and poured the contents of her bottle into it.

He slid the caps she'd put down back over to her too. "No charge." he told her, "I'll make up the difference. Moriarty'll be on your back if he finds out you used your... earnings...on booze."

Nova sighed, pocketing her money. "You're a good guy Gob." she told him softly. Leaning over the bar, she planted a quick kiss on his cheek. His skin felt cold and... loose. But she didn't flinch away. She had, after all, had far worse against her lips in the past.

Gob, however, had never even so much as shaken hands with a smoothskin. He all but fell over backwards as he hurried away, causing a few sniggers among the nearby drinkers.

"You servicin' ghouls now Nova?" came a voice from behind her, "Didn't realise work was getting _that_ hard to find."

"Fuck you Jericho." she ground out half-heartedly. She knew the ageing geezer better then to take all his quips personally.

He settled onto the stool next to her, sliding his gun from his back and resting it against the bar. "Not got the caps on me right now. You don't start up tabs do you?"

"Not for the likes of you. Got any smokes?"

Jericho smirked, pulling a beaten packet from his pocket. "So what you think about all this then?" he asked her, striking a match on the counter and holding it up for her. Nova took her time getting the cigarette lit, feeling Jericho's eyes on her mouth as they rounded into and "oh" and let free a plume of smoke.

"About what?"

"All the damn _rumours_," he told her, reaching over to pull her drink towards him. Nova, knowing she'd have barely a mouthful left by the time he'd finished, slapped his hand away sharply and gave him the finger.

"You're talking about the kid."

"'Course I am. Who ain't? He died a damn year ago and people still think they see him wandering the wastes. A load of raider's were found decorating a barn somewhere close by, people reckon it was him." Jericho ranted loudly, gaining the attention of those closest, "I don't believe it personally. Unless he's a fucking ghost."

Nova winced a little at the harshness of his voice. Jericho was a tough old guy, and he never held back when he had something to say. But, though she wouldn't admit it, Nova didn't want to think of the kid rotting in the ground somewhere. It just didn't feel right.

"You don't believe the Brotherhood saved him then?" asked a guy sat beside the radio, "Three Dog ain't told us he's gone. And Three Dog would _know_."

Jericho scoffed, about to launch into another tirade before someone else started up.

"I heard they had to rebuild him. You know, with robot parts. Like those androids..."

"Bullshit. I bet the radiation got him, he's probably hiding somewhere with a second head-"

"He's dead. The sooner everyone shuts up and gets over it the better. I'm getting a freaking headache keep yapping all the time-"

Nova sighed. Once again the night looked to be rounded off with an argument over what happened to their Saviour of the Wastes. Taking another swig of her drink, she thought back to the day the door opened and she greeted the middle-aged man who stepped inside with her usual flirtatiousness. James. He'd been the first guy in a long time who didn't drool at her offer of a wild night. He even bought her a drink. "No strings attached." he'd smiled.

Not a day later, his son walked through the very same door. They'd shared the same strong jaw and intense blue eyes. They even had the same damn walk. And wouldn't you know it, the kid politely declined her offer too, though he turned pink at the ears as she'd laughed at him.

She could have been nicer, she thought. He'd been looking for a little help, and she'd overheard the conversation between Moriarty and James. Yet she still thought holding onto a job she'd been dying to get out off for years was more important that sharing a bit of information with a stranger.

Nova ran her finger around the rim of her glass, "You think... we deserve what he gave us?" she wondered out loud.

Jericho, now lighting his own smoke, rose an eyebrow at her. "S'not about what we deserve. S'what we get that counts."

Nova nodded absently. "Probably..."

The two sat in silence, the only sounds they made were the slow inhale and exhale of air as they finished their cigarettes.

"I'll tell you one thing..." Jericho suddenly murmured as he stubbed the dying end out on his leather gloves, "...one thing that matters."

The woman at his side glanced up at him, surprised by the sudden change that seemed to come from nowhere. Jericho was usually loud, pushy and a motor-mouth. But she forgot that the weathered man had more smarts then people gave him credit for.

"We got to make this count, either way. We owe him that much."

They both raised their glasses in sync, an unspoken ode to a stranger that was almost a friend. Nova almost laughed out-loud as a thought ran through her mind. Here they sat, a whore and an ex-murderer, probably tainting the memory of a hero while everyone else just argued over it.

"I'm thinking about getting out of the game." Nova confided quietly as the alcohol now burning her throat numbed her usually guarded self. Jericho was the last person she'd tell something like that too. Yet here she was.

He turned to her, half a smile on his face. "But not tonight, right?"

Nova laughed, once. "No, not tonight."

Disclaimer: All rights too... Bethesda? I don't know, this is my first Fallout fic. I started wanting to write a follow up to Fallout 3, and every version I wrote turned into a little bonding thing between Nova and Jericho (and even with a little of Gob.) It's inspired a Nova/Jericho fic that's now saved somewhere in my masses of files. And now I just want to explore a few more characters and their lives in the wake of Project Purity... maybe the follow up fic will be after that...


End file.
